Michael MuchmoreMicrosoft Windows 8Window 8 is now ready for the world to explore with first hand. All you need is a Windows 7 capable machine. Before you decide whether or not to download it, check out our first impressions.

5Windows 8 - SkyDrive

6Multi-Monitor Setup

New support for multiple monitors lets you span a background image across screens (more appropriate for similar-size monitors), and you can invoke the charm icons on each screen, with a forgiving target areas in the upper-right corner of each. Here we see a 46-inch Samsung UN46ES8000F as the secondary monitor.

7Charms and Status

When you swipe in from the right or move the mouse cursor to the top right corner of the screen, you'll see the "Charms" or menu icons on the right for Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. You'll also see the time, date, battery status, and Wi-Fi status on the left.

8Sports App

9Pin App Section

In Windows 8 Metro, you can not only pin apps to the start page, but subsections of apps. Here, in the Sports app, I'm pinning the Mets section. You can also pin a specific stock symbol or email inbox.

19Sidebar

20People App and Running App Sidebar

This shot shows the People app, which lets you hook up your Facebook, Twitter, and other social accounts. It also shows the left panel of other running apps, which you call up by swiping to the left edge and them back in, or, with the mouse, by putting the cursor in the top left corner and then moving down.

23Multiple Monitors

24Internet Explorer in Windows 8

There are actually two views of Internet Explorer, this is the touch-centric Metro view. It's full screen on the Web page, but if you swipe up from the bottom or down from the top, you see the thumbnails at the top and the address bar, pinning, and settings icon at the bottom. The thumbnails show loaded sites, and note that you can "Clean Up" or close all but the current window. The Metro browser now supports some Flash sites, and has a Flip-Ahead feature, taking you to the most likely next page.